ArcheambeauFrench The name Archambeau is derived from the Latin personal name 'Arcambaldus'. In turn the name 'Arcambaldus', is derived from the Germanic word 'Ercan', which means precious in Germanic, and 'bald', meaning bold and daring.... [more]
HadinataChinese (Indonesian) Indonesianized form of Chinese surnames such as Ji (紀). Surnames like these were instituted during the New Order era (1966–1998) in Indonesia due to social and political pressure toward Chinese Indonesians.
SolankiIndian, Gujarati, Marathi From a vernacular name for the Chaulukya, a dynasty that ruled parts of northwestern India (in what is now Gujarat and Rajasthan) between the 10th and 13th centuries, of uncertain meaning.
WinfordEnglish English location name meaning "from a white ford or water crossing" or "from a meadow ford".
ThornleyEnglish Derived from Thornley, which is the name of three villages in England (two are located in the county of Durham, the third in Lancashire). All three villages derive their name from Old English þorn "thorn" and Old English leah "clearing (in a wood), glade", which gives their name the meaning of "the thorny glade"... [more]
NolteGerman From a short form of various medieval given names derived from Germanic given names ending with -n and wald meaning "rule", for example Arnold and Reinwald... [more]
FoeEnglish (Rare) From Middle English fo "foe, enemy; hostile", possibly a nickname for someone who played the Devil in a pageant play. Can also be a variant form of Fow.
SõõrumaaEstonian Sõõrumaa is an Estonian surname, possibly derived from "sõõr" ("circle") and "maa" (land").
WeddellScottish, English Derived from Wedale, the original name of the parish of Stow in Scotland, possibly composed of Old English weoh "idol, image; temple, sacred place", weod "weed, herb", or wedd "pledge, contract" combined with dæl "dale, valley"... [more]
XiangChinese From Chinese 向 (xiàng) referring to the ancient state of Xiang, which existed during the Spring and Autumn period in what is now the Shandong province.
AtempaMexican, Nahuatl (Hispanicized) Means "on the riverbank" or "on the bank of the lake", derived from Nahuatl atl meaning "water" combined with tentli "bank, shore" and the suffix -pan "in, on".
GarcésSpanish Meaning "son of García" ultimately from medieval spanish Garsea, using the patronymic suffix és/ez
RuzickiPolish Ruzicki was first found in Polesie, inhabited by Ruthenians, called Polesians, of Ukrainian descent. One of the principal names of the area was the royal Clan of Poraj, of which the family name Ruzycki is a branch.
AbkhaziGeorgian Means "Abkhaz person" in Georgian, referring to a member of the Abkhaz ethnic group inhabiting the Black Sea coast. This was the name of a Georgian family of princely status descended from the Shervashidze ruling family of Abkhazia.
LeverFrench, English Nickname for a fleet-footed or timid person, from Old French levre "hare" (Latin lepus, genitive leporis). It may also have been a metonymic occupational name for a hunter of hares.
ShironitaJapanese (Rare) From 城 (shiro) meaning "fortress, castle" or 白 (shiro) meaning "white" and 仁 (ni) meaning "compassion, benevolence", that is then combined with 田 (ta) meaning "rice paddy, field"... [more]
HatcherEnglish Southern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a gate, from Middle English hacche (Old English hæcc) + the agent suffix -er. This normally denoted a gate marking the entrance to a forest or other enclosed piece of land, sometimes a floodgate or sluice-gate.
PoznanskiPolish, Jewish Habitational name from the city of Poznan in west-central Poland, or possibly from other places of this name, in Katowice and Siedlce voivodeships.
BowserEnglish Nickname from the Norman term of address beu sire ‘fine sir’, given either to a fine gentleman or to someone who made frequent use of this term of address.
AimotoJapanese Aimoto is often written as 愛 (ai) meaning "love, reverence, affection" or 相 (ai) meaning "together, each other, aspect, mutual" and 本 (moto) meaning "source, origin, root".
CureEnglish Possibly from Middle English cuir meaning “attention, heed, diligence, or care.”
SlackEnglish Means "small valley, shallow dell", derived from Old Norse slakki "a slope", a topographic name for someone who lived by such a landform, or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word, for example near Stainland and near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.
PushkinRussian Derived from Russian пушка (pushka) meaning "gun, cannon". A notable bearer was Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), a Russian poet and writer.
FerrarEnglish The Ferrars are the Lincolnshire branch of the noble De Ferrers family. The latter having been linked to Tamworth Castle, manors in Baddesley Clinton, Tutbury Castle and the now ruined Groby Castle as well as many other estates around the UK.... [more]
RinneEstonian Rinne is an Estonian surname meaning "front" or "battlefront".
BabelFrench Either (i) from the medieval French personal name Babel, apparently adopted from that of St Babylas, a 3rd-century Christian patriarch of Antioch, the origins of which are uncertain; or (ii) an invented Jewish name based on German or Polish Babel "Babylon".
SenanayakeSinhalese From Sanskrit सेना (sena) meaning "army" and नायक (nayaka) meaning "hero, leader".
BodenGerman, Low German Patronymic from the personal name Bode or a topographic name for someone living in a valley bottom or the low-lying area of a field. From Middle High German boden "ground, bottom".
TakaseJapanese From Japanese 高 (taka) meaning "tall, high" and 瀬 (se) meaning "rapids, ripple, current".
ClerihewScottish A Scottish surname of unknown origin and meaning. A clerihew is a humorous or satirical verse consisting of two rhyming couplets in lines of irregular metre about someone who is named in the poem. It was invented by the British author Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875-1956; Clerihew was his mother's maiden name)... [more]
ViikEstonian Viik is an Estonian surname meaning both "crease" and "tie/draw".
LaflashFrench (Quebec, Anglicized) Anglicization of the name "Richer dit Laflèche." Richer comes from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + hari, heri ‘army.' Laflèche is a reference to La Flèche, a town in historical Anjou, France... [more]
AbdelmassihArabic Means "servant of the anointed (Christ)" from Arabic عبد ال (‘abd al) meaning "servant of the" and مسيح (masīḥ) meaning "anointed, Messiah, Christ", used by Arabic-speaking Christians.
KhrueachanThai From Thai เครือ (khruea) meaning "family" and จันทร์ (chan) meaning "moon".
ReusGerman Topographic name from Middle High German riuse "fish trap", or from a regional term reuse meaning "small stream, channel".
FoweatherEnglish Derived from the place name Fawether, Bingley, itself a combination of Middle English fah "multicoloured, stippled" and hather "heather"... [more]
BurridgeEnglish Derived from an English place name, derived from Old English burg "fortress, fortification, castle" and Old English hrycg, Old Norse hryggr "ridge" or from the name Burgric.
De RuiterDutch Means "the rider" in Dutch, derived from Middle Dutch ruter "freebooter, vagrant, robber", later meaning "cavalryman, soldier, armed horseman". It could also be a nickname based on an event, in one case deriving from an incident involving a ride on a runaway pig.
OdishoAssyrian Means "servant of Jesus" from Syriac ܥܒܕܐ (ʿaḇdā) meaning "servant" and ܝܫܘܥ (Išōʿ) meaning "Jesus".
QureshiArabic, Urdu Denotes a member of the Quraysh, a mercantile Arab tribe that the Prophet Muhammad belonged to, itself is derived from Arabic قرش (qarasha) meaning "to gnash, to grind, to chew".
LaidveeEstonian Laidvee is an Estonian surname meaning "islet water".
RanganathanHinduism Means ‘lord of mirth’. It is an epithet of Lord Krishna.
KaseorgEstonian Kaseorg is an Estonian surname meaning "birch valley".
EmsleyEnglish A name that came from a family that lived in Yorkshire, where they derived the family name from Helmsley. Probably of Old English origin Helm and ley or leah, which means "a clearing in the woods."
AkanishiJapanese Means "red west" in Japanese. From the Japanese words 赤 (red) and 西 (west).
IrisarriBasque From the name of a commune in the French arrondissement of Bayonne, derived from Basque (h)iri "town, city" and sarri "frequent, thickset; thicket, brushwood".